I have noticed there have been questions about who is an ordained Pastafarian minister, and how are marriages conducted. I like the idea of having no ordained minister with authority over people but that make its hard to perform Pastafarian marriages because only ministers and public officials (Judge, Notary, etc) can perform marriages. I have a few recommendations that eliminate this problem. I would like to suggest an ordained position called the Wedding Ceremony Celebrant, who has only the authority to perform marriages. There are three legal ways this could be done

1. Ordained ministers who convert to Pastafarianism can get their current ordinations authorized by the the governing Council to perform marriages.

2. If there is an organized Pastafarian group in a certain city, the group can create an ordination process and ordain the person to be a Marriage Ceremony Celebrant.

3. Go to the Universal Life Church (ULC) website. Apply for ordination. After ordained by UCL, ask the Council to approve the ordained UCL minister to perform marriages.

The only legal function ordained ministers have is performing marriages. I think this is the only issue where we need some kind of ordained officiant. I am already and ordained minister so I could perform a Pastafarian marriage if members are serious about the Pastafarian marriage issue. It would also be nice to have other come forward that might want to do this too

That's fine if there is a provision available to do marriages. Is there some kind of official ordination to authorize Pastafarian pirate captains to marry? My main concern is to make sure the marriage is legal

We need to register as a church in some countries. In my home country, you must get married in a civil ceremony with a government official before you get married in a religious marriage. This does not demand for a religion to be officialised before ministers can perform marriages.

In the U.S this is something that would be left up to the individual states.

In Arizona all that needs to be done is to be an ordained minister. To make it legal for Arizona, a Pastafarian group might want to create some kind of written procedure for ordaining and ordain captains to marry people.

Some states in the U.S. require the ordained minister to register his or her ordination with the state government. Arizona does not require such registration.

By the way, is there any governing council where members can discuss these issues?

I think an actual marriage ceremony needs to be devised. with words that the Pirate Captain would say. We also need to determine how to become a full pirate captain. i mean do you have to own a boat or can new age pirates count.

What about the law that allows a ships captain to marry people as long as the boat is at sea? The only question then would be how long ago a Pirate Captain would have had to steal the boat to have it be considered his/hers. : )

The thin line between genius and insanity is less of a border than a union.

"Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish."--Pope John Paul II

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.-Albert Einstein

evilbelgian wrote:I think we honestly need a more realistic way to ordain our 'priests' than "sail the seven seas scavenging for loot". Still a formal ceremony would be awesome.

There's no formality in piracy.

I don't know about that. Pirates get rather formal with their ways. Just look at that time-honoured tradition, walking the plank, and having your first mate dress up as a wench for special occasions, like finding a cache of rum.

A flap of the wings yesterday means big changes tomorrow.Let's work together to keep the present inevitable.

Many pirate crews were quite formalized, drawing up detailed contracts concerning different crew members shares and duties, as well as common rules agreed to by all. the Captain in many cases was the individual who the crew decided to be the captain, and once the voyage was over he was no longer a captain, although he frequently would keep the ship itself as part of the loot for a second voyage, if it was not sold to get more gold with which to buy rum. Point is, pirates were capable of a great degree of formality and legalism, although any appointment as captain or quartermaster or mate or whatever was a temporary posting which only lasted as long as the current voyage. I say our "ministers" be any pastafarian who is voted minister for purposes of ceremony, as per the pastafarians involved. Basically, any pastafarian can perform a marriage, so long as the other pastafarians at the ceremony agree that he/she can. Of course a marriage being a formal, if not solemn event, any pastafarian worth his noodle will attend in full pirate regalia.

As an afterthought, maybe our minister is simply the pastafarian present with the largest pirate hat? which raises another question: do we go by height, width, or weight?

I think that sort of thing should be decided before hand so that the chosen minister has time to learn his/her lines. Which brings us to the next part of the ceremony what will the lines be.

I was thinking of something along the lines of the following.

Pirates, Wenches and fellow Pastafarians. We be gather here today to marry this here wench to this her pirate.

Any Scurvy dog who has a problem with this should be saying Yarr right about now otherwise shut your noodle hole so we can get on with this and get to the part where we get wasted on rum.

Now both of ye say yarr where it concerns you, understood. Do ye wench take this here pirate to be ye lawfully wedded pirate. to be liking alot through the good stuff and the bads stuff, to uphold the statutes of his great noodlyness, and do ye pirate take this here wench to be your lawfully wedded wench through the same condition i have just said.

If ye be wanting to say some things to each other now ye may do so.

(After Vows are said)

I know pronounce ye Pirate and Wench, now go do some pirating because it be getting mighty hot out there and we really need the temperature to go down.